Aspies For Freedom

Good for Ceri!

but does this mean you don't get to be a penguin?

I wonder if he mentioned anything about the severity[ or lack thereof] of your Aspergers. I ask this cuz I was diagnosed at age 12 in 1991; at a time when Asperger Syndrome was most certainly not widely known about nor a popular diagnosis among professionals who knew about it. Even before that my parents and teachers knew that I was abnormal, starting at the age of 2. So did your parents and teachers notice that you were abnormal as a kid too?
So many women with AS are diagnosed as adults when they seek out professional advice. Whereas men with AS are noticeably different from the onset of early childhood.

Ceri, I have ADHD and my boyfriend Erich is Aspie. We are convinced that one of our cats is Aspie. A few examples: she has a lot of "issues" with the other cats, with a need for sameness, a need to be separate, to know where her safe place is, and we have to know what level of "sensory stimulation (petting) she enjoys, before it becomes an overload and it's "Don't touch me!" If we set her food dish two inches off the Right Place, she would rather starve than eat it.

Another cat, Crazy Jack, is so ADHD that Erich tells me "I understand you better by watching the cat."

Did you have to answer a bunch of questions and take a bunch of tests or anything, Ceri? I'm going to try and get officially diagnosed with AS within the next few months because I need assistance from the Student Disability Center at my school (for extra time on tests and whatnot), and I was wondering what types of stuff I would have to go through.

Also, I have three cats.

I am officially (mis)diagnosed as ADHD, and from what I remember I had to take test after test after test with a bunch of different psychiatrists, and I don't really want to experience that again. It was extremely stressful (though not as stressful as the classes at school I would have been sitting in), but I would certainly choose to do it again for a correct diagnosis.

I actually typed that at the very end of the post... I don't know how it ended up in the middle. Now it looks like I have disorganized thoughts.

Thats interesting because I was diagnosed based on the opposite. I stuck to rules and routines at school and work even if I didn't really have any interest in what I was doing. Certainly I have learn't alot of social skills as a adult and learnt to act reasonably normal, but I have missed development milestones. I was never an abnormal child, just self contained, probably because I had a close family circle and was not interested in things that involved socialising. I also have no problem with eye contact, infact quite the opposite.

Yes I am noted for staring at the person I am talking too. I am the youngest child in my family with two older sisters. A family routine was therefore already in place when I was growning up.

Congratulations Ceri.  Glad to see you're back.

Regarding feline autism:  I volunteer one day a week at a wildlife sanctuary, and I think one of the bobcats at the place might be autistic... more of a low- to mid-functioning form if there is any such thing among felids.  (e.g. His sounds are different from the other bobcats, in that it's this high-pitched howl instead of the usual variety of bobcat sounds.  He's also chewed many of the plants in his area down to stumps, and howls as he's chewing.  I don't think he likes me, either, so I ask other volunteers to clean his enclosure so as not to overstimulate him.)

What about Aspies who have low intelligence?

I was referring to myself, Woman from Mars.  I am very lacking in intelligence.

Somewhat off topic Ceri Chaos......but are you interested or involved in high-level mathematics?
I have found that nearly all other people who are tend to be conventional people with very little visible eccentricity.

Aspies tend to be eccentric, whether gifted in math or not...

It's why I said if you're a math/science/tech freak, you're more likely to get a diagnosis.  I don't care how many times people tell me that's just a moot point or false...  there's no changing my mind on this.

I think my dog is LFA

I used to think that my dog had ADHD.